Kara's Lifting Adventure

[vanessa40]

Love the pictures

Rock climbing sounds like so much fun..that's something i want to do on day..
How was the movie..i'm going to see it in a few weeks..after all the crowds die down..

[Littlemermaidklb]

Thanks!
Rock-climbing was so much fun! I even conquered this "cave" they have (it's an indoor rock-climbing place) where you're 45degrees tilted backwards, then once you're out of the cave part it goes vertical, then another narrow area that tilts backwards again! Hard as hell but I did it!

We played some tennis in the insane heat on Sunday as well. I ended up staying in PA till yesterday and spent all of yesterday after my drive back working on figuring out my first health insurance plan of my own.... the darn government gives me way too many options! It took forever (I've been working on this for at least a week now) but I finally picked a plan. I'm hoping it works out.

Things have been so stressful trying to get everything organized before the big move on the first. I'm excited, but nervous at the same time. Any of you crazy people live in the DC metro area? It'd be cool to put faces to names.

Anyway, I missed my workout yesterday but went today to make up for it. I can't wait till I'm back on a semi-normal schedule! Today's workout was... crap. These fat-loss workouts are rough and I dunno, maybe it was just an off day, but for the life of me I could not get my RDL form right today. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
Here's the numbers:

A1: Deadlifts:
3x15 w/ 65lbs

A2: DB incline bench:
3x15 w/ 15s

B1: BSS
3x15(e) w/ BW
OMG I HATE THESE!!!

B2: Mixed grip lat pulldown:
1x10 w/ 5th plate *harder than expected! Different equipment than I'm used to, that could have been the problem.
2x15 w/ 4th plate

C1: RDL
2x15 w/ 65lbs
*form was off, didn't feel right... so stopped to prevent hurting myself.

C2:Swiss ball lateral roll
1x15 (e) of side twist-type crunches on ball instead cuz I couldn't figure out the roll move.

I'm hoping next time is better

[Littlemermaidklb]

I posted this in both challenge threads that start in August, but I figured I'd post them in here as well.

1- 75% compliance or better at my running/HIIT schedule (HIIT on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1.5mile run once per weekend)
2- 10 real pushups in a row with good form (currently can do 4-5)
3- Lose fat and maintain/gain muscle. Will be measured by photos, measurements, and calipers. Current body fat as per Accumeasure Calipers is 25.5%. Goal BF% for the end of the challenge is 22-23%
4- Find something outside of the gym to increase my activity that I enjoy doing... either a dance or martial arts class.

I'll be doing NROL, starting with the Fat-loss programs and working towards strength programs.

So excited Bri bought calipers! While they may not be as fancy-schmancy as a bop-bod, at least I have a relative idea of how much fat I have. It'll be great for trending. I set a BF% goal that I think is do-able, but I'm hoping to surpass that goal. We shall see!

[Littlemermaidklb]

Bri made me a spreadsheet to track my BF% changes over the next few weeks/months. I put in the starting values and it tells me how much fat I need to lose to get to where I need to be bodyfat-wise.
Here it is!

I think this is totally do-able... I think 7.5lbs is possible for me to lose. Hopefully I can up my cardio activity and make myself eat a little less to get there

[Littlemermaidklb]

Took all my motivation to get to the gym today. We're having monkey wrenches thrown in the gears here with the big move to VA and it's been very hectic, but I needed to get away and lift something. This workout wasn't the best, but it wasn't bad either. I really need to get out of this mini-funk I'm in gym-wise and pull it together. I'm hoping to get my act together by the start of the challenge.

A1: BB Squat:
3x15 w/ 65lbs
*really trying to concentrate on form by dropping the weight. They're still uber hard by the last 5 reps or so!

A2: Cable seated row:
1x15 w/ 5th plate
2x15 w/ 4.5plate

B1: Supine Hip extention:
3x15 with 12lb DB on hips
*Doing these with the ball hurts my knees, makes them feel like they're hyper-extending. I also didn't feel it much in my glutes last time, but by doing regular bridges with a weight on my hips I sure feel it like crazy!

B2: DB push-press:
1x15 w/ 15ws
2x15 w/ 12s
*I find this exercise difficult... I'm trying to watch my form and make sure it's ok, but I think I'm just not a fan of explosive movements like these.

C1: Rotational Lunge:
3x15(e) w/ BW
*Does it matter if I step forward into the lunge or backwards? Does it work anything differently? I felt my form was much better by stepping backwards into the lunge rather than forwards and then pressing back up to the front leg rather than to the back leg.

C2: Ball crunches:
1x15 w/ BW
2x15 w/ 5lb plate longarm
*I need to go heavier again next time.

[dillytl]

Hi Kara!! Haven't visited in a while!!

Love the "dirty dancing" pics!!

[Littlemermaidklb]

Hey Tracey! Haven't "seen" ya in a while! Hope all is well with you!

Oye! Why didn't anyone ever warn me that moving was a pain in the ass? It's been kind of crazy around here, and my dad is in Paris for work right now... worst timing by IBM ever. My room looks like a bomb went off! We went an gathered all my stuff from my CT apartment this weekend and bought some living room furniture at Ikea. It's just been nuts, and I haven't been to the gym as much as I'd like. I'd love to say things will calm down a bit once I actually move, but I'm starting my first real job on 8/4 so I'll be getting everything settled and what not. Bah... and figuring out my own health insurance, car insurance, how to register my car in the new state, all this big "grown-up" stuff that is... well... not very fun, lol.

On the workout front though, Bri was up this weekend helping with the first round of moving (even though the poor thing had his wisdom teeth pulled on Thursday!) and we decided that since he has a little free time before his clinicals start up, he's going to help make me my own program so that I can work towards my specific goals, rather than follow a book program. We've discovered (or rather... he informed me) that my quads are vastly different in strength than my hamstrings/glutes. I've got an incredible imbalance apparently and that's what's been causing my knee pain, and is probably part/most of the reason my butt/thighs are the jiggliest part of me. So we'll be working on correcting the imbalance, getting better at push-ups, workin on chin-ups, and a bunch of other things. We'll probably try to work on that tonight.

We also took my pics/measurements for the start of the challenge. As I wrote somewhere a while ago.. I was always taught by my mother to "hold your belly in", not to suck it in so you can't breathe or anything, but to always kind of engage your tummy so it looks flatter and nicer. I now have difficulty un-holding it in. But I think that for the challenge, I will see my progress better if my pics/measurements are taken without me holding my belly in. This is really hard for me to do and i feel like I look terrible when my belly isn't held in, but I'm hoping to get to a point where I no longer feel the need to hold it in in the first place. Anyway, those pics/measurements will be up later today I hope.

Ok... back to packing for now...

[Littlemermaidklb]

These are with my belly not held in. I was always taught to hold it in, so it would be flatter, but I figure I can judge my progress better without it held in... it's so difficult for me to do though!
And my weight might be off a bit... I used the scale at my parents house so I don't know how accurate it is. When I get my own I'll verify the number.
Here's the BF% chart my bf made me to determine how much weight I need to lose in fat to be at the % I want to be. It doesn't take muscle growth into consideration, but that's what pics are for (to an extent)
So I have about 7lbs of fat to lose... I'm hoping I can do it!

[brianb]

*whistles* who's that hottie? dayum





haha in all honesty hun your "before" picture is 99.9% of the world's "after" picture... I'm soooo proud of you.

Love,

Your crazy boyfriend

[missjane]

No kidding! You look PERFECT Kara! Just perfect!

[Bytsi]

Can I borrow your pics as my "after"?

[GinnyLou]

You sure do look fantastic! I love your spreadsheet, too.

[wannabefit83]

Wow you look great!! You are what I want to look like when I'm done!!! I love your spreadsheet...how did you figure out how many pounds of fat you needed to lose...or should I ask, where did you get the spreadsheet info??

[kfisherx]

Originally Posted by Bytsi

Can I borrow your pics as my "after"?

LOL!! No kidding. This is going to be a tough one to make improvements to.

[Littlemermaidklb]

Originally Posted by brianb

*whistles* who's that hottie? dayum

haha in all honesty hun your "before" picture is 99.9% of the world's "after" picture... I'm soooo proud of you.

Love,

Your crazy boyfriend

You're silly, but thank you. I couldn't do this without your help.

Originally Posted by missjane

No kidding! You look PERFECT Kara! Just perfect!

Originally Posted by GinnyLou

You sure do look fantastic! I love your spreadsheet, too.

Originally Posted by wannabefit83

Wow you look great!! You are what I want to look like when I'm done!!! I love your spreadsheet...how did you figure out how many pounds of fat you needed to lose...or should I ask, where did you get the spreadsheet info??

Originally Posted by kfisherx

LOL!! No kidding. This is going to be a tough one to make improvements to.

Thank you everyone! As for the spreadsheet.. Bri made it using Excel. I won't pretend to be technologically savvy enough to know how he put it together, and apparently it took him quite a while. I'm sure it's do-able if you mess around with Excel for a while.

Oye... time to start packing the Uhaul! Be back later.

[missjane]

I have a spreadsheet in excel with simple forumulas to see how much my LBM vs fat is. You just input your weight and BF and you can see the LBM vs fat. I play around with it by putting in different weights and different BF%'s just to see where I might want to end up. It's not as fancy as Kara's, but it might help some of you.